NEW YORK – A New York judge says 50 pounds of potatoes and a produce box can't be used as evidence in the murder trial of the man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts) in 1979.
Judge Maxwell Wiley on Thursday denied the defense request, saying it would raise too much speculation for jurors in Pedro Hernandez's trial.
Hernandez told authorities he choked Etan in a basement, put the body in a bag and a banana box, and dumped it about two blocks away.
Defense attorneys are trying to show the confession was made up by a mentally ill man. They say he was too weak to have carried a box that far.
Prosecutors say the confession is accurate, and medical records show Etan weighed far less than 50 pounds.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
